If one has an air conditioner in his house or office, the Rajasthan government expects him to plant at least 50 plants. Such interesting targets of plantation have been set for vehicle and factory owners as well under an ambitious mega plantation drive of the government with a target to plant more than one crore saplings across the state on the occasion of Hariyali Teej, August 7th.
The education minister of the state, Madan Dilwar said that during the summer this year, some cities of the state were the hottest in the world due to severe heatwave conditions in the state.
“ To stop the rising heat and save the lives, the state government is launching a mega plantation drive on the occasion of Hariyali Teej under which the administration will work with people to make Rajasthan green and prosperous," said minister while briefing the media about the drive.
Under the plantation drive the bike, car and truck-bus owners have been expected to plant at least five, ten and twenty saplings respectively. At the same time, petrol pump and gas agency owners have been asked to plant 300 saplings while the factories have to plant saplings equal to the number of their employees.
When asked about the monitoring of these “ambitious” targets, the minister said" it cannot be done forcefully. This is a request from the government as we want that all the sections of the society should actively participate in this," said the minister.
However, mandatory targets have been set for students and teachers of government schools. The students have been asked to plant the trees equal to the number of their family members, while the teachers will plant 5–15 saplings as per their grade. For the monitoring of the plants, students, and teachers will have to upload photos of the plants on the app with geo tagging. All plants will be monitored through an online app.
Dilawar said that an additional budget of Rs 37 crore has been released to the Education Department for plantation. Under this, a provision has been made to give Rs 15,000 to primary school, Rs 35,000 to middle school and Rs 55,000 to senior secondary schools.
Arrangements have also been made by the government to regular watering of the plants. MNREGA workers will be engaged to take care of 200 plants at the village level. Whereas in urban areas this responsibility has been given to the Municipal Corporation.
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